NOUAKCHOTT (Mauritania): When Mohammad’s family was freed from slavery several years ago, he and his brother moved to neighbouring Senegal, found work and saved a small nest egg to start a business. But when they returned home to Mauritania, their former master tracked them down and demanded everything they had saved.
“He told us that all we had was still his, and made us hand over everything we had earned,” said Mohammad, who asked that his full name not be used for fear of retaliation. “After all, he is still the master, even if we are supposed to be free.”
Slavery, which took hold centuries ago in this West African desert nation of 2.7 million people, was outlawed only in 1980, making the country one of the last in the world to ban the practice. But anti-slavery activists, human rights workers and diplomats said that while the number of slaves held in Mauritania had declined sharply since then, the practice continued.
A major problem, the sources said, was that the law outlawing slavery said that slaves could be freed only if their master received ‘compensation’. “Compensation means a master can say, “You can go, but only with the clothes on your back, because everything else belongs to me,” said Boubacar Messaoud, a former slave and director of SOS Slaves, an organization that helps newly escaped or freed slaves adjust to freedom. “Because of that, many people stay with their masters even if they can leave, because they have no education, no food, no shelter, no alternatives. Freedom means they are free to die of hunger.”
Even freed slaves such as Mohammad often remain beholden to their former masters because slavery is so deeply ingrained in a society that remains stratified by race and caste. “You do not see people in chains here, you do not see people beaten like you think of when you think of slavery in the United States,” Messaoud said. “That is one phase of slavery. If your father is a slave, and his father and his father for many generations, you believe you are a slave, the chains are here,” he said, pointing to his head.
Traditionally, Mauritania’s lighter-skinned Beydane Moors, descendants of Arab warriors and scholars, were at the top of the social order and owned slaves. The darker-skinned Haratine Moors, often black Africans, were at the bottom. Today, the social order remains much the same, with the Beydane Moors dominating the country’s political and economic life, while the Haratine do the menial labour.
Senior officials in the government of President Maouya Sidi Ahmed Taya, who has held power since 1984, denied that slavery still exists in Mauritania. They said that reports of continuing slavery were aimed at tarnishing the image of Mauritania, one of the few Muslim countries to recognize Israel and maintain close ties to the United States.
Anti-slavery activists estimate the number of slaves has dropped from tens of thousands to a few thousand since slavery was outlawed. They say the decline has more to do with the country’s changing economy than to a conviction that the practice is wrong.
Messaoud receives a constant stream of visitors imploring him for help at his modest house. “People who are enslaved need other people to show them the path out, to help them understand they have rights, they cannot be owned,” said Messaoud. “It is a complete change of mentality, and psychological slavery persists. That is perhaps our biggest challenge now.” —Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) The Washington Post.